Ambassador Spotlight: Richard Bowers

Tell us a little about yourself

I currently live in rural Ontario with my wife.  I moved to Canada from the UK in 2001; of all the places I had visited, it was the first that I didn’t want to leave.  I have always liked doing outside stuff and where we live is great for that.  I spend a lot of time running the roads and trails near my house and exploring the dirt roads on my bike.
I have been a Hammer fan since 2012, when Ryan introduced me to Perpetuem for my 8 hour mountain bike races, which I started doing to fill the void left by the end of my rugby days.  My main activities now are running and cyclocross, with mountain biking and cross country skiing filling in the seasonal gaps.  .

You are our first ambassador to be selected without even applying to the program. Why do you think that is?

I am quite thrilled to be asked to join the ambassador team.  I have used Hammer products seriously since I started mountain bike racing in 2012 and even before that used Recoverite for after rugby and mountain bike rides.  Ryan has always been so helpful with advice on what and how much to use, that I have always tried to give feedback on what worked, sharing the results on the Hammer website as well as Facebook and Instagram.  I hope to do a bit more of that as an ambassador and just spread the word so that more people can get the same benefits I have from using the Hammer range.

What are your top three Hammer products at the moment? And why?

Cafe Latte Perpetuem is my favourite weekend breakfast.  My long runs are usually Saturday or Sunday morning, usually starting before 5am, so breakfast beforehand is not an option.  I start sipping Perpetuem 20-30 minutes into my run and it keeps me going for however many hours I need to.  It tastes nice so you don't have to force it down, it has never given me any upset stomach and it is satisfying so you don't get hungry.  I mix about 3 hours worth in a gel flask so it is just runny and then carry water.  I find that this way, in the depths of winter when I still need the fuel but don't need so much water, it is easy to control and still take in enough fuel.  I will also have a couple of gels with me in case I feel like I need them.

Recoverite has been a staple of mine for a while now.  It is liquid calories, so more easily absorbed than solid food and it is great to have straight after a run if I am not eating immediately.  In the week I often run at 9.00pm or later so it’s also good to have something afterwards that won’t sit in my stomach and keep me awake.  I started to use this when I was playing rugby many years ago and it is still a valuable part of my sports nutrition now.

Tissue Rejuvenator has kept me injury-free for a few years now and as I creep ever closer to 50, this is a big focus of mine.  It reduces muscle inflammation to speed recovery and also helps ligaments and tendons avoid strains and pulls.  I take 2 twice a day for maintenance, but more for a heavy training block.  I had a heavy crash in a Cyclocross race a couple of years ago and with 4 Tissue Rejuvenator caps twice a day, I was back running in 4 days, after being hardly able to walk the day after the crash.  I would recommend this to anybody doing any kind of regular activity or recovering from a muscular injury.